Where Do Our Thoughts Start?

The Bible starts with simple, powerful words: “In the Beginning God…”

In the 1980s, Carl Sagan began his popular series “Cosmos” with statement, “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be.”

Both of these say something about reality. Both of these say something about our beginnings. Both of these imply something about the nature of our world. BUT they are starting at two very different places.

Our thinking about Worldview also starts in one of two places: 1) God exists or 2) God does not exist. This guides us to two basic reference points for Reality:
1) Reality is rooted in the existence of God who stands above all (THEISM).
2) Reality is rooted in the Universe itself (NATURALISM).

In the graphic above, we lay out these two basic starting points and simply (maybe over-simply) traced them to their conclusions in the way they have shaped our Western world.

If we begin with at least the possibility that God exists, then it opens the doors for revelation – our Creator speaking to us – which implies the existence of transcendentals – truths that stand above creation – and the possibility of hope.

These are only possibilities at this point. We would have carefully define what we mean by “God.” We will leave that for a little later.

If we start with the idea that “there is no God,” then we are left only with our observations of the world. We have data and information about the world, but we might not be able to figure out its meaning or significance. This leads us to despair and ultimately meaningless. We know this is so because it is what has happened already in the Western World.

It may be that god exits, but that he, she, it – whatever god may be – does not reveal himself/herself/itself to us and so we are left on our own again.

These three options are the starting point of three major worldviews: Biblical Theism, Deism, and Naturalism.

In the Session “What Went Wrong?” we are going to trace the development of these Worldviews and see how they have shaped our Western mind-set.

In this course, we will begin with option “God exist and has revealed Himself.” From this point, we will make a presentation and defense of Biblical Theism, and explore how the Way of Jesus gives us a coherent and satisfying view of our World.

The totality of creation is divine iconography. Everything in this enchanted sacramental symbol-friendly universe is drenched with sacred signs.

—David Naugle, Worldview, 293